Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.

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Monday, 10 October 2016

Palestinian children have to pay for the privilege of being beaten, sexually assaulted in israel’s prisons

(AFP/File)

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Israeli courts imposed several fines amounting to a total of47,000 shekels ($12,335) on imprisoned Palestinian minors in one prison during the month of September alone, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said in a statement released on Sunday.

The committee specifically focused on Palestinian minors held in Israel’s Ofer prison, stating that the number of Palestinians under the age of 18 detained in the prison as of September reached 152, with 30 detained in September alone.

According to the committee, 17 of the imprisoned minors were serving various sentences, ranging from one to 13 months, and were facing monetary fines, though it remained unclear what they were being fined for.

Citing testimonies of the detained, the committee added that the minors had been assaulted and beaten during detention and interrogation, and that some of them were ill and not receiving proper medical treatment.

Meanwhile, the committee said in September that at least 1,000 Palestinian minors between the ages of 11 and 18 had been detained by Israel since January, including around 70 children from occupied East Jerusalem who were placed under house arrest.A lawyer for the Committee, Hiba Masalha, cited at the time a number of cases in which Palestinian minors were abused and tortured while in detention.

Interrogations of Palestinian children can last up to 90 days according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, during which in addition to being beaten and threatened, cases of sexual assault and placement in solitary confinement to elicit confessions are also often reported, while confession documents they are forced to sign are in Hebrew — a language most Palestinian children do not speak.